CNN rant

[SirFozzie]

So, I'm waiting in a local steakhouse to be seated (I'm on vacation in Indy) and I saw an ad for Larry King Live coming up next. Well, I haven't been able to keep up with the news as I'd like, to I keep an eye on the ticker.

I see the news about the ceasefire in Lebanon. I see the story how they've raided some internet cafes in regards to the plot to bomb aircraft from the UK to US.

"Well, " I thought to myself, "Sounds like Larry's going to have to have some kind of security/global expert on or perhaps a Repub/Democrat to point/counterpoint the effectsof the week. . After all, even for a saturday, it's a fairly busy day.

But oh no...

Instead Larry King has an hour long sit down coffeeklastsch with the characters from Talladega Nights. No, not the actors. The characters. That's right folks, Ricky Bobby and Cal Naughton, Jr spent an hour talking racing and stuff with Larry King, interspersed with clips from the movie.

Gah.

there was a wink wink nudge nudge section in the graphics that admitted that they "look a lot like actors Will Ferrell and.."

But come on, CNN. You wonder why people don't take you seriously. On one of the most interesting weeks so far of the year, to ALL americans.. you spend an hour basically doing an infomercial for a freaking movie.

I know, it's harmless tripe and If I don't like it, change the channel. However, I kinda like CNN for reports on news.. it's a left-leaning viewpoint, but if you average out with other networks, you can get a good view of what's going on.

but this kinda shit devalues CNN as a news source, don't it?

[terpkristin]

Yes, which is probably why I get most of my news from the BBC, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report.

I'm seriously jaded.

/tk

[Toddzilla]

I was up the other night and wanted to watch some national news and noticed, between the hours of 10PM and midnight eastern, on CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC there IS NO NEWS being broadcast. It was all shit like entertainment gossip, Larry Buffoon, old investigative reports crap.

[Drake]

You're on vacation in Indy? You need to plan better vacations.

[Cringer]

I won't get into a debate about whatever else is on CNN, but part of the problem with what you are talking is that it is just plain Larry King. The guy stopped being 'current and up to date' a long time ago. The only good from that show is when they make fun of stuff on his show on Howard Stern's show.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pretty much what Cringer said -- King is pretty much fluff all the time now as far as I've seen recently, mostly entertainment related.

And re: Toddzilla's observation -- I don't remember which of the TV trade publications I saw it in but in the past couple of weeks I read at least one piece that basically said pretty much all the newsie networks were looking to add more of the entertainment-oriented shows to their lineups. They're cheaper to produce, draw better ratings, and more attractive demographics than the straight news stuff.